Lifetime Plans New Channel Heavy on True-Story Shows

Lifetime Television, the cable channel for women, is jumping on the trend toward unscripted television with plans to launch a new network, Lifetime Real Women, as well as a night of original programming devoted to the genre.

The channel, which will feature true stories and movies based on real-life events, will launch in the late summer, most likely on cable systems’ digital tiers, though no distribution details were made public.

Lifetime, despite new competition in programming targeted to women, has seen its viewership jump this year and for the first time is the top-rated basic cable channel in prime time. A spinoff channel, Lifetime Movie Network, is also gaining ground.

Most of the new channel’s programming will have previously aired on Lifetime, including the planned Saturday-night Lifetime block of existing series “Beyond Chance,” about unusual coincidences and hosted by singer Melissa Etheridge; and the new series “Women Docs,” profiling four female doctors each week. Other series include episodes of “The Things We Do For Love,” which previously aired on Lifetime, and the channel’s biography series “Intimate Portrait.” Programming exclusive to the network is likely to come later.

In a presentation for advertisers here, Lifetime, whose ratings spurt is partly due to its original Sunday-night dramas, said it has several comedies in development, including one produced by Michael J. Fox based on the book “Otherwise Engaged” and another called “Suits and Skirts,” with situations seen from two perspectives.

Dramas in the planning stage include “Utopia,” from the “Homicide” team of Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson. The network is also developing an unscripted show titled “Real Defenders,” about women in the legal system who attempt to bring justice to those falsely accused of crimes.